A senior military commander has stated that NATO is planning how to coordinate the evacuation of a large number of wounded from the front lines in preparation for a potential war with Russia. This may involve utilizing medical trains as transporting casualties through the air could become unfeasible during such a scenario.
The medical evacuation plan is part of NATO’s broader operational strategy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted a comprehensive reform within NATO to enhance its deterrence and defense capabilities against potential Russian aggression.
Commander Alexander Sollfrank of the Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) mentioned in an interview with Reuters that future medical evacuation scenarios will differ from the experiences of allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sollfrank is tasked with coordinating rapid troop and tank movements across Europe and logistical preparations, such as ammunition storage in NATO’s eastern flank. He noted that in a conflict with Russia, Western forces may encounter larger battlefields, more casualties, and potentially a temporary lack of air superiority near the front lines.
“Our challenge will be to swiftly ensure high-quality care for large numbers of casualties in the worst-case scenario,” he stated, without specifying the expected number of casualties according to NATO’s projections.
The headquarters of JSEC is located in the small town of Ulm in southern Germany. Recently, JSEC conducted exercises coordinating the transportation of patients.
Sollfrank mentioned that in the event of a conflict with Russia, the distances for casualty evacuations would be greater compared to other recent wars, and Russia’s air defense systems and warplanes could pose threats to NATO’s medical transport aircraft in ways that insurgent forces in Afghanistan or Iraq could not. Therefore, NATO might require medical trains capable of transporting a higher number of casualties simultaneously.
He added that gaining air superiority would be crucial, and success along the entire front lines would take time.
“For planning purposes, all options for transporting a large number of casualties to medical facilities need to be considered, including trains, but also possibly buses,” he stated.
According to the German military, Russia is expected to attack a NATO country as early as 2029, while Russian President Putin has accused Western support for arming Ukraine as the aggressor. The conflict in Ukraine has sparked the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.